


Sexual Harassment

by drmystique



Category: By-Sexual, Office Lover (Visual Novels), The Office (US), 僕のセクシャルハラスメント | Boku no Sexual Harassment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-07-05 08:41:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15860142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drmystique/pseuds/drmystique
Summary: This is a story of an incident of sexual harassment in the office from the girl's point of view.





	Sexual Harassment

**Author's Note:**

> I am a new author. I have been a sloth for ten years and had kept my stories on the shelf till date. My friends who read my stories told me that I am a good storyteller and the world should know my stories. So it's time to write them down. The storm of thoughts inside my brain needs to let loose.
> 
> Science fiction excites me the most. If you are a sci-fi fan, you should unquestionably check my book(s) out.

He cornered me in the elevator and kept his hands on the elevator walls on either side of my head. He was yelling at me. His eyes, as black as the devil’s, were piercing into me. His red face blazing at a finger distance to mine.  
“Answer me. I have been asking you since so many days and you don’t answer.”  
The elevator was still crossing the 13th floor and I had to get out at 17th. I was counting the floor numbers but time seemed to have slowed down. Every floor seemed like an hour. I was scared and he was getting louder and louder.  
I tried to move my eyes away from his face to not show that I was getting weak. The only thing in my mind was “How do I get out of the elevator?” I tried to avoid bursting into tears. All I could do was call for help.  
“Help, help, somebody please help”, but he continued yelling.

At the 17th floor, when the elevator stopped, he got conscious and moved away. I tried to calm myself down, but couldn’t hide my discomposure. When the door opened, there were three office ladies standing outside. We came out.  
“Thank God, I am not alone outside the elevator”, I thought.  
Suddenly an unexpected chaos started.  
“You were troubling the girl in the elevator.”  
“We will report to HR about you.”  
“How inhuman of you to harass a girl.”  
I realized that Aditya was in trouble. Good. He deserved it. I silently went inside the bay area.

I went directly to the ladies washroom, a place where Aditya couldn’t follow me. I needed few minutes to contain myself. There was no one in the washroom. I went inside a loo, put the lid and sat on it. Tears came out one by one. Not caring about the toilet etiquettes, I sprayed the hand shower on my face and wiped it with the toilet papers. I came to my cubicle and laid my head down on the desk.

“Maanvi, your bag. You left it in the washroom.”  
“Oh”. Who was she? I did not even see.

I couldn’t focus on my work. A few hours later, I went to the cafeteria for lunch with my teammates. My team consoled me and assured me that Aditya won’t bug me again.

When we came back from lunch, I saw that Aditya was in a meeting room with HR manager Lakshmi, his manager Vinay, and my manager Namrata. I got relaxed that everything will be fine. After an hour, Aditya came out of the room, went straight to his cubicle, packed his bags and left for home.

By the end of the day, Lakshmi called for a meeting with all the employees on the floor. She announced that Aditya was fired according to the HR policy made a few days earlier against Sexual Harassment. The company was setting an example out of him. Most of the employees didn’t care much about the meeting because everything was very obvious.

“Fired”. This was the only word that was running in my mind.

I was the center of attention. Everyone in the company was showing sympathy towards me: boys, girls, my team, his team, HRs, married, unmarried, everyone.

Sameer came to pick me up on his bike. I was scared to go on a bike because I feared Aditya might follow me, but I didn’t want to tell Sameer about what happened in the office.

I sat on the bike. I kept feeling that someone was following us. At every traffic signal, I was checking faces within every helmet to check for Aditya or his friends. I constantly asked Sameer to speed up. Sameer guessed something is not right.  
“I said nothing’s wrong. Can’t you understand the first time? Just want to rest.” I shouted at Sameer when he asked for the third time.  
“I understand.”  
What did he understand? I guess he thought I am on my monthly period cycle, but I did not clarify.

I went home and closed all the doors and windows. I felt that someone was peeking through the glass window. But there was no one. I closed all the curtains as well. Suddenly my mobile rang. I thought it was Aditya. I checked the mobile. It was my mom. I switched the mobile off and switched off the lights as well. Why was I so scared of Aditya? Everyone had assured me that he won’t bug me anymore. I needed to get him out of my head. I don’t know when I slept.

The next day, I thought to take a day off, but I did not. I went to the office. I reported a few bugs to the dev team and asked them to resolve them. The only answer I got from them was that they were not in a mood to work at that time. I continued following up with them on the bug but I kept getting the same answer. I communicated this to Namrata. She went to ask the devs herself but she also got the same answer. She escalated the issue to Vinay.

Vinay called his team for a meeting. Coincidently the whole Dev team consisted of only boys. From outside, it seemed that very heated discussions were going on inside the meeting room. After around 15 minutes, Lakshmi was called inside. The meeting of the team, Vinay and Lakshmi continued for another 20 minutes. Then the devs left the room and Namrata was called in. The meeting of the managers looked like a state of complete confusion leading nowhere.

Here outside the meeting room in the bay area, everyone started chattering. People split into groups of four to eight in parts of the Bay Area, the cafeteria, and the balcony area. But none of the groups were a mixed group, it was either boys’ group or girls’ group. I joined one of the girls’ group and found that all the boys, especially developers, in the company wanted Aditya to be back. I felt a numbness in my hands and legs. Was I wrong? No, I was not. Did I overreact? Probably. Is his punishment too big for what he did? Probably. Did he deserve it? Probably not. Somewhere from my heart, I knew that he did not deserve such a big punishment. I had worked with the guy for a year on projects. He was a decent lad. I was worried that my boyfriend Sameer might come to know what was going on in the company. The news can spread from one company to another through social media easily.

The door of the meeting room opened and the managers came out. Many employees tried to talk to the exhausted managers but they straight went to their cabins where they generally never sat. They did not come out from there the whole day.

The next day, a similar thing happened but this time on a greater scale. All the male employees on the floor refused to work from morning but this time managers did not do anything. They all demanded that they won’t work unless Aditya is brought back. The other floor, at 16th, was aware of the incident but unaware of the strike and chaos.

At 3 PM, Lakshmi went to the office door, swiped her card and Aditya entered the floor. Aditya looked exhausted. He probably came to the 17th floor by stairs. Fuck 17th floor + 3 floors parking. He must be too ashamed to face anyone. He knew everyone was looking at him, every girl hated him and every boy pitied him. Without making any eye contact, he went directly into the meeting room with Lakshmi. Vinay and Namrata joined them.

Aditya looked the same as he did a year ago when we started working together. Unshaven face, curly hair, blue denim, and striped t-shirt. I remember how anti-social he was when we had met for the first time. He frequently offended the QA Team as he believed that they are dumb. He was so technical that he talked in programming languages. I came to him for a small requirement. He talked about Java, Hive, Pig, Shit or what not but I did not get a thing. It took him an hour to just make me understand that the requirement is not feasible or will take months to achieve. After 3 months of working together, Aditya opened up a bit. We went to the cafeteria for a coffee. It was probably the first time, he got this close to any girl. While talking, I did feel that he is getting wrong vibes from me. Next day, he asked me out for dinner. I refused because I knew where it was heading.

The atmosphere of the bay area became a bit chaotic and loud with groups chatting like the previous day. Boys were on strike that they won’t work unless Aditya is brought back. But this time girls were on strike too that they won’t work if Aditya is brought back. Fuck, this is a deadlock. The only way out of this is Aditya and I both leave the company. I was waiting for the managers to call me because it was obvious. Due to it, even my head started aching and I sat on a chair. Finally, after a long wait, the meeting room door opened and Lakshmi called my name.

When I entered inside Lakshmi pointed me to sit down. The room was dead silent. Everyone outside had all eyes inside the room as if trying to lip read me.

“Maanvi, we would like to hear your side of the story”, Namrata broke the silence.  
“Ma’am, Aditya and I have worked on 3 projects in a one-year time span. We worked and coordinated together very well. In fact, he himself recommended me to work with him on the third project. I don’t know when he started liking me. He used to Whatsapp me after office hours, in the beginning, related to work, but later on for no reasons. He asked me out a few times. After refusing many times, I agreed to dinner once, for not being too rude to him. Then in the previous month, this happened 2-3 times more.”  
“6 times”, Aditya interrupted. He was counting them after all, day by day, month by month.  
“I did not keep count of it. I did not know what was he thinking. I openly mentioned about my boyfriend to him several times and he thought it was a lie. He kept flirting with me and calling me day and night. Slowly he started talking about sex as well. Three weeks ago, finally I decided it’s going too far and I need to stop this. I will be in trouble if my boyfriend finds out about it. So I decided to stop talking to him. I stopped picking his calls and replying to his messages. But he kept messaging me and calling me. Then that day in the elevator when everyone got out, he cornered me and started yelling at me. All I could do was shout for help. Rest you know.”  
“Did he beat you or touch you in the elevator?”, Lakshmi asked.  
“No, he never touched me at all.” Saying this I realized he really was a gentleman all the time.  
“Did you ever ask him to stop talking to you?”  
“Yes, a few times but our conversation always continued even after that. So I decided not to ask him and directly stop talking to him.”  
“Aditya also told us more or less same thing but from his point of view. He said he liked you and after a few dates, he decided to take things a level ahead. When you stopped talking to him, he could not understand why you were doing it. He wanted to ask you the same and got the opportunity to talk to you in the elevator. But when you did not answer, he got angry and yelled. Boys think that Aditya did not do anything wrong.”  
“Ma’am, do you think the same?” Though, I myself internally started believing he didn’t.  
“No, I don’t think so. But if girls think they are right and boys think they are right, what can we do? It’s just not about man’s world or woman’s world or anything. We have to keep both the groups happy and I can’t think of anything right now.”  
“Ma’am, I can’t work with her around me after everything”, Aditya spoke softly.  
“Me too. Even I don’t want to see him around me.”  
My response was mechanical. Unsure, whether it was out of ego or I really did not want him around.  
Lakshmi looked towards Vinay and Namrata for any solutions. But they had not said a word since I walked in.  
“Can you…”, Lakshmi wanted some solutions from Vinay and Namrata. But they had not said a word since I walked in.  
“I don’t want my boyfriend and my family to find out about this”, I interrupted.  
“Even we would prefer this issue doesn’t go outside the office. Should we talk to Saxena Sir about this?”, Lakshmi said.  
“Is that really necessary?”, Vinay asked. He looked too scared.  
“But any major action we take will come to his notice. It’s better if it comes with his permission.”  
“What are you thinking?”, Vinay asked.  
“To shift Aditya to the 16th floor. Like a win-win.”  
“Lakshmi, is it a game for you that you win if you get an optimal solution?”, I thought.  
“What about the people on that floor?”, Namrata asked.  
“That’s the only problem I can think of, that the girls there will not be welcoming. Let me have a word with the Saxena Sir.”  
“You don’t need to talk to the CEO Ajay Saxena just for shifting Aditya to the other floor. Is there anything else in your mind?”, Vinay asked.  
“Yes, will tell you later.”

Lakshmi went out towards Ajay Saxena’s cabin. Lakshmi was always an ass kisser of Ajay. People often rumored that Lakshmi was having an affair with Ajay. Maybe listening to a sexual harassment case got her excited and she wanted to quench her thirst. I don’t know in such a heated situation why my mind was wandering for such bitchy thoughts, though these thoughts relaxed me a little. My suspicious face was clearly visible, even to Lakshmi, so I decided to keep my head low.

I and Namrata came out of the room as well. Aditya and his former manager stayed in the room. The environment of the office was very scary. All the girls were on the same page that they didn’t want to see Aditya’s face. I knew Aditya was not a bad person but I didn’t say anything and let the chaos continue. All the boys had no problem with me but they just wanted Aditya back. I wondered, was it just a bro code or everyone really loved Aditya? His roommate might have told everyone his side of the story.

Aditya’s pride seemed to have been compromised. He was a proud techie. After I refused him once for coffee, he did not ask me again for months. When his father expired, he did not talk to me or anyone for a month. I lent him a friendly hand myself and agreed for dinner when he asked. At dinner, it was evident that it was his first date. He did not know what to talk and what not, though he never learned it anyway. He told me that he is just not a techie as people know him. He is a photographer, image, and video editor too. He loves to write blogs and reviews about mobiles and cars. He did not realize that all the hobbies he mentioned were tech savvy. Everything he said bored the hell out of me and I just wanted the dinner to end. Still, I just stayed and kept listening out of courtesy. He mentioned that his father’s dog Maggie was now his responsibility and that was the only mention of his father in any discussion we ever had. I did not even bring this up in the meeting.

After half an hour, Lakshmi came back directly to the meeting room. Is it just I or everyone can notice that she looks exhausted? What were Lakshmi and Ajay doing inside for half an hour? Such a slut. How did I forget I need to go inside the meeting room?

I and Namrata went inside the room. From the corner of my eye, I took a peek at Aditya. He looked so tensed. Did he grow two inches of beard in the meantime? Focus Maanvi. Focus on the matter.

“I have decided something. I hope it works for everyone because luckily the team Aditya is in, is all boys team. Maanvi, you and other QA girls, who are involved in the current project, can give a complete KT of the project to two QA boys. Those two QA boys and this Dev team will continue working on the project on the 16th floor. Everyone knows in the other floor that someone named Aditya has left but no one has seen him there. If a complete team is shifted then no one will not even notice there is a boy named Aditya in it too or he is the same one. A marketing team will come to the 17th floor in their place. I need to talk to the Marketing Manager on it but I will manage.”  
“I will move to the 16th floor as well with them”, Vinay declared.  
“It seems like a win-win. Let Aditya stay home for two working days and we will give KT to Nilesh and Kartik in the two days.”, Namrata added.  
“The third day Aditya comes directly to the 16th floor”, Vinay continued.  
“All happy? Maanvi?”, Lakshmi asked me.  
“Yes Ma’am”  
“Maanvi, you can go to your cubicle and continue your work”, Lakshmi asked me to leave.  
Even after I left the room, the discussion continued among the managers. I could see the conversation from outside, but couldn’t hear anything. Everyone came to me to ask what happened but I just said the HRs will announce in some time. Aditya did not say a word. After 15 minutes, Aditya got a rehiring letter. He took it and left the floor. The discussion among the now relieved managers continued.

Six months passed and I never saw Aditya. I don’t even know whether he is still there. Though I do want to know but can’t ask anyone. His Facebook profile still mentions our company’s name. I am happy that I don’t have to face him anymore. I feel guilt-free that he was not fired because he was not at all a bad person to be fired.


End file.
